Boris Johnson has promised that the rights of EU citizens currently working in the UK will be “fully protected” following the Brexit vote in last week’s referendum.

Boris Johnson, one of the favourites to succeed David Cameron as prime minister, stated that British citizens would still be free to work, study and travel throughout Europe, and that a continuation of free trade would be agreed under the terms of the UK’s exit from the union.

His comments came as a snap survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) showed that 22 per cent of its members were considering relocating at least part of their company operations outside the UK as a result of the Brexit decision.

Mr Johnson, one of the leaders of the successful ‘leave’ campaign, added in his column in Monday’s Daily Telegraph that the “government will be able to take back democratic control of immigration policy, with a balanced and humane points-based system to suit the needs of business and industry”.

He wrote, “I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be. There will still be intense and intensifying European cooperation and partnership in a huge number of fields, the arts, the sciences, the universities, and on improving the environment.

“EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU.

“British people will still be able to go and work in the EU, to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and to settle down. As the German equivalent of the CBI – the BDI – has very sensibly reminded us, there will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market.